Membership dues are $50 for an individual member. Household memberships are $50 for the first member and $25 for each additional member at the same mailing address. Students may join for $20. Send a check, payable to LWV-Denton, to P.O. Box 424945 TWU Station, Denton, Texas 76204.

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WELCOME NEW MEMBERS!

Ninette G. Barr
5384 Spicewood Lane
Frisco, TX 75034

Marcia Henderson
1220 Kendolph Drive
Denton, TX 76205

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HELP SET OUR COURSE FOR 2007-2008

Our December 14 meeting will be our annual Christmas party. You are strongly urged to attend because it is during this celebration that we set our course for the upcoming year. While enjoying party fare and wine, we ask you to come prepared to suggest subjects for monthly programs and possible study. This is your opportunity to influence the direction of the local League while enjoying the excellent company of fellow League members.

Please consider some of the following suggestions for meeting topics and Go-See tours, and come prepared with further suggestions:

• An examination of City boards and commissions and how they operate.

• The safety and accuracy of electronic voting machines in Denton County.

• Gas well issues in Denton County.

• A tour of the new Hazardous Household Waste facility and the Biodiesel plant.

Also, please help the League improve by suggesting:

• How we might better publicize our activities.

• How we might better publicly recognize our non-member contributors.

The party will be at Tom and Peg La Point’s home: 1900 Highland Park Circle at 7:00 pm. Feel free to bring finger food or treats, but it is not necessary.

Directions: Cross I-35 E by going south on the North Texas Boulevard bridge. North Texas Boulevard will dead-end into Underwood. Turn right and follow the street as it bends left past the duck pond and becomes Highland Park Road. The first street to the left is Highland Park Circle. 1900 is the white brick house at the end of the cul de sac. Phone: 891-4984.

Peg La Point, Program VP

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PRESIDENT’S PODIUM

If you need a program at the last minute, ask for Peg La Point. Judge Mary Horn, our scheduled speaker for the November general meeting, called the day before our meeting to say she had a family medical emergency and would have to cancel. Peg La Point came through with a day’s notice and gave an excellent presentation on global climate change. Thanks to all who attended, there was lively discussion on a subject that should be of great concern to all who will be here in the next 20 years and/or care about the younger generation.

We have rescheduled Judge Horn for our January 25 general meeting.

Please take note of the article about our December 14 meeting. We need all your opinions to have a full discussion of local issues.

Sue Smith

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EARTH NOTES: Swap out just one standard 100w light bulb for a just-as-bright Compact Fluorescent Lightbulb (CFL), and you’ll reduce your household’s global warming pollution by more than 1,300 pounds. If every US household replaced three 60w incandescent with CFLs, it would be like taking 3.5 million cars off the roads.

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IMMIGRATION: FOOD FOR THOUGHT

LWVUS has adopted a study of immigration policy as a national study for the next three years. In March 2007 our local League will present an educational program for our members and the general public on immigration issues. In the months ahead we will share comments about federal policy that offer food for thought.

“Few policy areas affect a society as directly or as deeply as do immigration and immigration policy. Large-scale immigration magnifies those effects enormously.

The United States has been taking in unprecedented numbers of immigrants—legal and illegal—for over a decade now. Including those who come into the system and stay for extended periods of time, annual US immigration today totals about 1.8 million. Temporary immigrants entering legally on visas that do not require proof of an intention to return home and foreigners who enter and/or stay without authorization comprise the difference between the annual legal flows, which have averaged one million in recent years, and the ‘actual inflow’ figure estimated at 1.8 million.

No country can afford to have an immigration system that either ignores or otherwise merely ratifies the facts on the ground. Yet, that is what the United States has been doing for a while now. The result is a challenge to the most basic rules of governance; a hit-or-miss relationship between immigration policy and crucial US economic and social priorities; and an exceptional degree of political attention, not all of which has been thoughtful or productive.”

Demetrios G. Papademetriou
President, Migration Policy Institute
Immigration and America’s Future: A New Chapter, p. vii.
Sondra Ferstl, Director

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WHAT’S NEW IN VOTERS SERVICE

There have been more changes than you might realize in elected officials in Denton County. Tan Parker will replace Mary Denny as State Representative for District 63. Andy Eads, who defeated Jim Carter in the race for County Commissioners Precinct Four in the Republican Primary last spring, had no opponent in November. Ron Marchant is the new County Commissioner in Sandy Jacobs’s former Precinct (Two). For these, and for other changes in term or name, look for our updated Your Elected Officials brochure. Coming soon to our members.

Byron Witmer, Sondra Ferstl, and Kevin Carr are working on a new edition.

Sondra Ferstl, Director

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MORE EARTH NOTES (Thanks to Peg La Point for providing these.)

The yearly pollution from one gas lawn mower is equivalent to 43 new cars driving 1200 miles each. Small engines are not well-regulated and are much greater polluters than cars. Solutions include reducing the size of your lawn; keeping the mower perfectly tuned, cleaned, and maintained; and using an electric mower.

Only 34% of magazines printed actually reach a reader. Most of the rest end up in landfills. Nearly all magazines are printed on virgin paper with no recycled content and are bleached with chlorine-based chemicals, which, along with their by-products, are harmful to human health and the environment. You can help by visiting www.woodwise.org.

A family of four can save at least 28,000 gallons of water annually by installing low-flow showerheads.

Avoid purchasing fruits, vegetables and meats in shrinkwrap. Nature has already wrapped fruit and vegetables. Buy loose vegetables and only use a plastic bag when there are several small pieces. Buy meat from the butcher counter, where they wrap the meat in paper.

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BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Sue Smith, President, lwvdenton@earthlink.net

Peg La Point, Program VP, tnplapoint@msn.com
Linnie McAdams, Organization VP, LMMcAdams@verizon.net

Ann MacMillan, Treasurer, amacmill@music.unt.edu
Maggie Dodd, Secretary, maggiedodddenton@aol.com

Ken Ferstl, VOTER Editor, klferstl@charter.net
Sondra Ferstl, Director, smferstl@charter.net